Last year, the Handiger team I followed—the Seattle Seahawks—missed the playoffs. They are not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, there were some truly entertaining moments as they stumbled to a 9-8 record. To you, Jake Popper, to you, Geno Smith, thank you for your kindness to Drew Lock.
But they weren’t that good, so there was the firing of a head coach who defined an entire era of the franchise. They’re right in the soft middle of the NFL, with enough ups and downs to keep you pulling your hair out while cheering. Hot NFL 25The—no, not that—is kind of like that, too.
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As always, if you’ve played Madden within the past five years, there’s a lot in the game that you’ll instantly recognize. What makes this year’s entry stand out from its predecessors comes down to nuance, and it’s fair to say that in a year where a fair amount of attention and marketing push has been directed toward EA Sports College Football 25’s comeback, there’s a fair amount of it. There are few good changes.
For example, the biggest selling point in terms of gameplay is “BOOM Tech”, which is designed to provide more realistic tackles and collisions, which is one of the things that EA has been working on improving for a long time, as anyone who has seen Dash All will end in failure. But this time, it did seem to help. You’ll still get the odd, awkward-looking bump, but most of the heavier hits, especially those through the bat, do feel more fluid and natural.
As a runner, on the other hand, you’ll feel more energized during sprints, taps, and jumps. I found myself able to complete more spins and hesitations than usual, which tells me that the new running mechanics give me enough extra confidence that I don’t need to rely so heavily on booking it straight into the end zone. Anything goes by a fluke. may happen. It’s a very fun, if not adrenaline-pumping, action base.
In most of my games with the AI so far, I feel like the offense is stronger than the defense, likely due to the new catching changes – designed to promote more high-risk/high-reward catches – at receivers and tight ends Insiders such as forwards. It doesn’t happen every time, but I do end up in quite a few penalty shootouts, and although a change in tackle could threaten the D, if it turns out things have shifted in the D’s direction, I would understand those trying to temporarily Those who score, may make adjustments over time. Of course, there’s a bunch of more in-depth content for scrapbooking connoisseurs, including new signature animations for different players as well as run-blocking changes, giving you something to look for if you’re keen on clipboarding . The new dynamic kickoffs also match this year’s new rules, but other than less fair catches, you likely won’t notice much of a difference unless you’re into special teams.
Then there’s the new kick meter, which follows some of Madden 25’s themes – replacing something that looked pretty dated, even if they didn’t always feel like it. Setting the direction with just one click and immediately setting the power with another click gives you a smaller margin for error than before, thus increasing your chances of getting things combined correctly. Yes, kicks, especially long kicks, are more challenging now, as fans who have collected all my attempts just past the post will tell you.
Following the same theme I outlined earlier, one of the most noticeable changes offsite is the redesigned menu, which really makes things feel fresher, even if they are fairly superficial changes. The draft visuals for the franchise mode redesign follow similar lines, in this case replacing a setting that has felt distinctly stale and unreflective for some time. Yet now, we’re going to boo the silent Roger Goodell for posing with your franchise’s next great hope and everyone else’s go-to player. I kid you, but it still has some nice variety, even if it’s brought down a bit by the fact that some of the faces you’ll see being drafted you’ll recognize have been in the series’ drafts over the years. Additionally, the proportions of some of the players as they stride around the stage might look a little odd, but considering how weird real-life athletes look in suits, EA may need to take a step back in that regard.
Beyond that, the franchise mode is a hybrid that’s largely static, with the same minimalist rendering – which in itself is neither good nor bad in my book – without voice acting or too much drama in the cutscenes. animation. The player progression changes do seem to be achieving their goal of getting young stars to improve faster, with Jordan Addison and JJ McCarthy rising up quickly in one of my saves to help the Vikings win the 2025 title (sorry Vikings fan). The new team-building mechanic does build on the recently revamped team relocation mechanic, but it initially looked like it would be completely impossible to create your own team via the website you have to use. As of this writing, the UK version appears to be completely broken, so you’ll have to pretend you’re in the US to avoid 404 errors when trying to load content.
Despite the fact that it offers a ton of logo, uniform, and stadium customization overall – and even though you might run into issues once the first part of your team’s name is mentioned twice (e.g. Boston Boston) in the game – —That episode made me question why the team builder couldn’t be integrated directly into the game instead of forcing you to use an external site. Especially for players who might not mind uploading a tiny custom image as the logo for their team known as the Grimsby Gobblers. It’s commendable that Madden is finally trying to match the long-standing premium customization offered by games like NBA 2K, but additional improvements are definitely needed if it’s to truly close the gap with MyLeague.
Switching gears, Superstar Mode’s changes are even more minor, with the ability to import your College Football 25 players, and you can make a player that looks detailed enough instead of just a generic NPC if you don’t do the whole thing with the creator. Make headlines. I guess that creator is ok even if you only choose one tattoo at the start it looks a bit bad although you can make more money by playing. Come on guys, give the newbies at least three different embarrassing 2000s tribal styles and some football with fire coming out of it.
Oh, and now it’s Ultimate Team. Generally speaking, if you’re just looking for something more to do in a dopamine rush that might make you complain about scripting every time you lose an online match, EA has stepped up to the plate. challenge. There are eight seasons of content planned over the life of the game, some pretty interesting unique challenges to overcome, and some changes to how head-to-head rankings work, with a greater emphasis on wins and rewards.
So, another year, another mixed year, although it feels like things may be heading in a slightly more positive direction. But here’s the thing, just like those Seahawks teams, unless Madden can provide some more meaningful changes down the road, things will just continue to stagnate. Hopefully the show’s cheeky siblings’ return to the neighborhood with marching bands and moral dilemmas about exploitation can help spur that shift.
Madden NFL 25 is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Reviewed on PS5 using code provided by the publisher.
